digression
noun
di·gres·sion
dī-ˈgre-shən 
də-
1
: the act or an instance of leaving the main subject in an extended written or verbal expression of thought : the act or an instance of digressing in a discourse or other usually organized literary work
Every place Hamilton, his parents, or his wife visited over a century's time is described at length; everyone he met merits at least a minor biographical digression.—
Willard Sterne Randall
Willard Sterne Randall2
archaic
: a going aside
Examples of digression in a Sentence
the professor's frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend
Recent Examples on the Web
Whatever your feelings about Tarantino, give the Oscar winner this: His genre subversions and outrageous digressions are far livelier and more inspired than anything Ritchie concocts here.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 May 2025
There are a handful of digressions in the category of local color, such as a francophone farmer who cooks haute cuisine and a bounty hunter nicknamed Preacher, who adorns his violent assaults with Bible verses.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 20 May 2025
To add to the information overload, there are flashbacks, self-aware references to classic whodunits, digressions into White House lore presumably mined from Kate Andersen Brower’s book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, which inspired the show.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025
That’s just one of many tangential critiques the director lobs at Brazilian society in a movie that might have clocked in well under two hours without such digressions.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digression
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Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 May 2025
There are a handful of digressions in the category of local color, such as a francophone farmer who cooks haute cuisine and a bounty hunter nicknamed Preacher, who adorns his violent assaults with Bible verses.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 20 May 2025
To add to the information overload, there are flashbacks, self-aware references to classic whodunits, digressions into White House lore presumably mined from Kate Andersen Brower’s book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, which inspired the show.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025
That’s just one of many tangential critiques the director lobs at Brazilian society in a movie that might have clocked in well under two hours without such digressions.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digression
Cite this Entry
“Digression.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digression. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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